


i like your face

by zhongmvs



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Humor, M/M, Minecraft, Polyamory, Pre-Poly, Pre-Relationship, Roommates, and they were quarantined
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26628553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhongmvs/pseuds/zhongmvs
Summary: For all that the whole quarantine situation has majorly sucked so far, it has also brought about a number of tolerable (and dare I say, positive) changes in Donghyuck Lee’s daily life.For instance, he gets to spend all day staring at his roommate while his roommate stares at the hot guy who lives in the apartment across the street.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Lee Jeno/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 6
Kudos: 63
Collections: Challenge #1 — and they were roommates





	i like your face

**Author's Note:**

> title is from face by woosung!

For all that the whole quarantine situation has majorly sucked so far, it has also brought about a number of tolerable (and dare I say, positive) changes in Donghyuck Lee’s daily life.

For starters, he spends a significantly smaller amount of time complaining about being hungover, mostly because there aren’t any parties to attend, so there’s a significantly smaller amount of reasons to drink and Donghyuck spends a significantly smaller amount of time actually being hungover. It’s all very significant.

Sure, the whole not going outside thing kind of sucks, because Donghyuck craves validation and he gets all of that through going outside and meeting people who adore him. But he solved that problem by creating a TikTok account, where he now has 50k followers to validate him and tell him he looks like various k-pop idols. 

Another plus is that he figured out how to freeze his zoom video and audio feed, so he can now spend the entirety of his online classes playing Minecraft without the professor even noticing. The fact that he gets to do all of that in his pajamas is pretty great too.

Really, besides the pandemic that brought it on, the only negative thing about this lock-down is that he has to spend all day with his roommate and has encountered some less-than-ideal, more-than-friendship feelings about that whole situation. 

It’s not a big deal, honestly. Donghyuck just tends to fall in love with every cute person he spends a lot of time with and Chenle happens to be the only person he spends time with nowadays. It’s whatever, Donghyuck can compartmentalize these feelings for his roommate and ignore them until they go away.

A shriek from the roommate in question tears Donghyuck’s mind away from the issue, but when he looks over to where Chenle is sitting on the pillows he has strategically placed in front of the window that overlooks the rest of the compartment complex, he is acutely reminded of another problem.

“He’s back!” Chenle exclaims, nose pressed against the glass. “The love of my life has returned from the war,” he sighs dreamily, “or from the other side of his apartment,” he adds, just as dreamily.

Here is the other downside of being in lock-down with his roommate-slash-friend-slash-newfound-crush: Not going outside has created the opportunity for Chenle to spend all day looking out of the window at the guy who lives across from them, who he’s apparently in love with. 

Donghyuck, personally, has never seen the guy and he doesn’t particularly want to either. He’s probably nothing special, anyways. Chenle might say he’s ‘totally dreamy’, but Chenle also likes maths, so Donghyuck doesn’t trust his personal tastes all that much.

Chenle gasps, nose pressed against the glass, like a stalker or something. Really, the only thing missing from this image are the binoculars. Donghyuck should report him for this.

“Oh my god, he’s shirtless,” Chenle gasps again, “Donghyuck, _he has abs_.”

Now _that_ gets Donghyuck’s attention. He may be halfway in love with Chenle, but he can still admire a good pair of abs. Another downside of the lock-down: the gym is closed, so Donghyuck hasn’t been able to stare at guys with abs while they work out for _weeks_. He can’t even remember the last time he saw someone with abs in real life.

He quickly moves over to the window and _Oh_ -

Donghyuck has never seen a finer man in his entire life. So far, Chenle has just been spending so much time talking about how pretty this guy is, how cute his cats are, and how soft his hair looks, that Donghyuck hadn’t even considered that the new love of Chenle’s life might actually be _hot_. 

And he really is. Donghyuck can’t even blame Chenle for falling in love at first sight. What a beautiful man, with his black hair that does indeed look very soft and his abs and his _arms_. He’s currently doing something with a dumbbell (Is that a dumbbell? Donghyuck has forgotten how to English. The only bells he cares about are wedding bells.) and Donghyuck doesn’t know how to act. 

He wonders how this guy likes his eggs in the morning. He also wonders what kind of flowers he’d like to have at their wedding. Peonies? Lilies? Dahlias? Donghyuck doesn’t know what any of those flowers look like but he would buy several bouquets of them for this man. 

(Are flower deliveries a thing? Do people still deliver flowers during lock-down? Donghyuck should really look into that.)

Donghyuck presses his hands against the glass. “Oh my god,” he mumbles.

Chenle sighs, “I know, right?”

“Chenle, I think I might be in love with him,” Donghyuck says, “I’m serious, I’ve never seen anyone more perfect than him. That’s my dream guy right there.”

This draws an affronted gasp from his roommate, “Way to hurt my feelings, Donghyuck! I thought _I_ was your dream guy! I can’t believe you would reject me and attempt to steal my man in all of one breath!”

Donghyuck gapes at him. “How do you know about that?”

“How do I know about what?” Chenle grins.

Donghyuck doesn’t even dignify that with a response. He’s not about to let Chenle bait him into admitting that he has a crush on him, if Chenle wants a confession so bad, he should consider spending his days staring at Donghyuck instead of the shirtless guy in the apartment across the street.

Speaking of the shirtless guy in the apartment across the street… Donghyuck diverts his attention back to the window.

He nearly loses his mind as he watches the latest love of his life take a sip from a water bottle. Donghyuck hadn’t known that hydration could look so sexy, he knows that _he_ certainly doesn’t look that good when he drinks out of the hydro flask he stole from Chenle, but he supposes that he’s learning many new things these days. What’s that saying again? The grass is always greener on the other side? Drinking water is always sexier when you’re quarantined?

“I understand you now, Chenle,” he tells his roommate, who really isn’t faring much better. “I understand you _completely_. If the choices were me and him, I would also be in love with him.” He frowns, “Well, actually, now that I think about it, I really am a catch, so maybe I would still be in love with myself.”

Chenle scoffs, “You’re acting like I’m not in love with you, too.”

Donghyuck pauses. “What?”

“What?”

Donghyuck decides to file this revelation away for a breakdown scheduled at a later point in time. He clears his throat. “So, about this guy across the street...”

Chenle nods gravely, “The love of our lives.”

“I think we should date him,” Donghyuck suggests. “Thoughts?”

Chenle hums, “He really is very cute, he has a nice smile too. And he’s strong, so he could carry our groceries for us. And he has three cats.”

“Which shows us that he’s very responsible,” Donghyuck adds, “And we like cats.”

“We do like cats,” Chenle agrees, “so I think dating him would be a good idea. Let’s do it.”

“I’m glad we had this discussion. Let’s do it.”

“Great!” Chenle exclaims, “So how should we go about asking him out? Do we put a note on the window or something?”

Sometimes Donghyuck is so distracted by how cute Chenle is, that he completely forgets how smart he is because clearly, Chenle is a genius who should be paid for coming up with ideas like this. Donghyuck obviously isn’t going to give him any money, though. He already bought Chenle a new Minecraft account because he forgot the password to the old one, so he’ll just consider this idea as payment for services rendered.

Compliments are free, though, so Donghyuck smiles at Chenle and tells him “You’re a genius and I’m in love with you. Go grab a piece of paper, I’ll go grab a marker.”

A few minutes later, there are several pieces of paper taped to the window of their apartment. The marker has bled through the paper, so Donghyuck can read the backward _CUTE & SEXY GUY IN APARTMENT WITH 3 CATS, WHAT’S YOUR NAME? WE’RE IN LOVE WITH YOU! XXX CHENLE & DONGHYUCK._

He’s moved his computer to the dining table to keep watch for a response, but Chenle is stationed by the window with a pair of binoculars, so Donghyuck trusts his roommate-slash-crush-slash-potential-boyfriend to keep him updated on the situation. He happily moves his attention to his computer screen and starts mining for diamonds.

Donghyuck has died a total of three times (once by falling from a high place, once by drowning in lava, and once in an encounter with a creeper) and is about to be ambushed by a bunch of zombies when Chenle screams “He replied!”

Donghyuck leaves his Minecraft-self to die for a fourth time and runs over to Chenle to look at the apartment across the street, where the love of their lives has taped a piece of paper with “ _My name is Jeno_ ☺” on it to the window.

“His name is Jeno,” Chenle wails, “He drew a smiley! He’s literally the perfect human being!”

Donghyuck is inclined to agree, but he’s more focussed on the fact that the love of his life—Jeno—is still standing at the window, obviously waiting for a reply. ( Or maybe a wedding proposal? Donghyuck is fine with either.)

While Chenle is indisposed, Donghyuck scrambles to grab another piece of paper and a pen. Once he’s found them, he quickly writes down his phone number and _“Call me!”_ and sticks it to the window.

Jeno smiles that beautiful smile of his, gives him a thumbs-up and makes a phone gesture with his hands before he moves away from the window.

Donghyuck allows himself to take one deep breath before he turns to Chenle, who is evidently still very emotional over the fact that he now knows Jeno’s name, and hauls him up.

“ _Chenle_ ,” he hisses, “Chenle, I gave Jeno my number and told him to call us. I think he’s grabbing his phone now.”

“Oh my god,” says Chenle.

“Oh my god,” Donghyuck agrees.

There’s really not enough time to panic beyond that, because less than thirty seconds later, Donghyuck’s phone starts vibrating and lights up with _Incoming FaceTime Call._

“Oh my god,” Chenle says again, but Donghyuck is too busy pressing the green button to answer him.

As soon as the call connects, Jeno’s face appears on the screen and Donghyuck wishes he had one of those phones with a gigantic screen, because Jeno’s face is even more beautiful up close.

“Hi, I’m Jeno,” Jeno says, after about a minute of Donghyuck and Chenle staring at him.

 _Of course his voice sounds beautiful as well_ , Donghyuck thinks.

“Hi, Jeno!” Chenle yells into Donghyuck’s ear. Normally, Donghyuck would get mad about this, but luckily for Chenle, the volume of his voice is really the last thing on Donghyuck’s mind right now.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Jeno,” he says, sending him the award-winning smile that had gotten him all of his TikTok fame. “I’m Donghyuck and this is my roommate Chenle.”

Jeno smiles, “It’s nice to meet you too. I think we might have a chemistry lecture together on Thursdays.”

Donghyuck blinks.

 _What?_ So all this time during his online classes that he had spent playing Minecraft and despairing about not being able to put his Minecraft bed next to Chenle’s, he could have been staring at Lee Jeno’s face through his computer screen? He could have been watching a pixelated version of Lee Jeno take notes, but instead he spent his time trying and failing to build an enchantment table?

This is absolutely unacceptable, Donghyuck is so distraught that he even laughs when Chenle makes a terrible joke about them having _chemistry_. Jeno laughs too, which makes it a little better and reminds Donghyuck of the problem at hand: He is not yet married to Jeno and Chenle. Obviously, this is easily solved.

“So,” he says after a few minutes of Chenle and Jeno flirting badly and Donghyuck flirting amazingly. “I think we should get married.”

“Oh! Wh-what?” Jeno stutters and Donghyuck believes he might even be blushing. “All three of us?”

Chenle nods, “Yes, we both think you’re really cute and we like you. So, let’s get married.”

“Oh, well, I think you’re both really cute too. And I mean, I did kind of have a crush on Donghyuck already, but maybe it’s a bit soon for marriage?”

“Aw,” Donghyuck pouts, “You don’t want to marry us? Are you absolutely sure of that?”

Jeno flushes, “Well, we don’t know each other that well yet, so maybe we should go on a date first? If you’d like to, I mean.”

Donghyuck would like that very much, but Chenle beats him to the answer.

“ _Of course_ we’d like that! When are you free? Do you want to go on a picnic? Donghyuck can make food for us, he’s pretty good at that! We could also go to a restaurant, if you’re into that? Or we could go bowling, I’m really good at that.”

Jeno smiles, “That all sounds great, but we’re in lock-down right now, so I’m not sure if that’s allowed.”

“So we’ll go on a date immediately when the lock-down is over? Is that what you’re saying?” Chenle asks, “I’ll have you know that I have contacts in the government.”

“Sure! Let’s go on a date as soon as we’re allowed to go outside again.”

Donghyuck sighs. This whole quarantine situation has brought Donghyuck many things, namely: an entirely messed up sleeping schedule, a Minecraft horse named Ronald, and not one but two potential boyfriends. He cannot _wait_ for the lock-down to be over.


End file.
